Print publication: Friday, Nov. 4Yes to this tax I say bravo to Rep. Peter DeFazio's stock transaction tax proposal ("Investment tax aims to stabilize markets," Nov. 3). I do not see how anything but the big banks and trading companies, with their constant turnover of assets, would be hurt. How this would hurt an individual investor buying and selling stock on his own or through a mutual fund is not obvious. It might even help by taking much of the volatility out of the stock market.

To me, an investor is someone who is interested in it for the long term; those who are in and out of an asset in a flash should be called gamblers. Maybe whatever revenue this raises could be used for deficit reduction, leaving other sources of government funds for more practical uses.

BILL HALL Northeast Portland Recruiting, counterrecruiting Regarding Portland Public Schools' decision to allow "counterrecruiters" on high school campuses: What is the school board's intent, other than to show utter contempt for our military? If the goal is to inform students of their alternatives outside the military, well, they already have plenty. How about every other subject they study and every other profession they learn or hear about?

When I was in high school, some of my friends and I were contacted by military recruiters. We simply respectfully declined, telling them no, thank you, we would be pursuing other opportunities instead. And that was that. We certainly didn't need any activist groups with an anti-military agenda infiltrating our campus and trying to meddle in our life decisions.

MIKE FARRELL Southwest Portland

***** I represent one of those pesky peace and justice groups that has been granted "equal access" by a unanimous vote of the Portland School Board to offer high school students a response to the military recruiters' sales pitches. I want to clarify two points raised by those who object to the school board's decision.

First, we are anti-war and anti-militarism but not "anti-military." We support military service members, who often act heroically, but not their mission, which is neither heroic nor constructive. Some of us are veterans and others of us provide counseling and advocacy to GIs who request civilian support.

Second, by exercising our right to equal access, we are not opening up a public forum, but simply attempting to provide a balance of information and perspective. The public forum was created by Congress when it mandated through No Child Left Behind that high schools must welcome armed forces recruiters or risk losing federal funds. Back in 1986, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the right to equal access for counter-recruiters and peace advocates, characterizing military service as "controversial and political in nature."

JOHN GRUESCHOW Northeast Portland Grueschow is a member of the War Resisters League.

***** The Portland School Board has created sound education policy in passing the equal access resolution. This allows groups to come to high schools and offer students information about military service not in line with recruiters' message that joining up is great. A recent letter claiming the board had no business making this decision is misguided. That is precisely the board's job: to ensure that what happens in our schools will help individuals make good career choices and become valuable citizens.

In voting for equal access, the board has recognized that military personnel are not neutral. Their words, actions and very presence make a strong political statement. The schools invite them in to do this, so to provide balanced information and promote careful thinking, both essential ingredients of education, the schools must invite others with an alternative perspective.

SYLVIA HART-LANDSBERG Southwest Portland Student debt The Oct. 30 editorial "In the shadow of student debt" states that as two Harvard Law School graduates, the Obamas "aren't exactly the poster children for student loan vulnerability," but in a way they are. Our 30 or so elite universities hold private endowments totaling hundreds of billions of dollars. Because administrators claim the money is for educational purposes, schools receive enormous tax breaks on it. Now it's time for administrators to stop sitting on this money the way corporate CEOs are sitting on theirs, and use it to eliminate tuition for the students they admit. These students would then vacate other grants, opening up millions of dollars in financial aid for other student applicants.

It's only a partial solution to student debt, but its time has come.

PATRICK STORYSoutheast Portland

Seniors and property taxes The real market value of my home has gone down $30,000 in the past three years, yet my property taxes have increased each year. This is because they are tied to a phony and arbitrary figure called "assessed value," which continues to rise regardless of what happens in the market.

Isn't it time we tied property taxes to the real market value? They would go up when that figure rose and go down when it fell. Why shouldn't government suffer along with the rest of us during a recession?

For that matter, why don't we exempt people 70 and over from paying any property taxes on their primary residences? Most of us that age have to live on fixed incomes that make it painful to pay ever-increasing property taxes each year.